The present invention relates to a ski boot, or a boot for similar uses, having a basculating stiff bootleg with an adjustable lateral inclination for the fitting thereof to any kind of natural inclination of the leg of the user.
Known ski boots having a stiff leg generally provide foward inclinations in a vertical plane passing along the longitudinal axis of the foot, which inclinations may be fixed or, on the other hand, variable by means of lateral pin joints.
Said known ski boots do not allow adjustment of the lateral inclination of the stiff leg of the boot itself, i.e. in a transverse vertical plane with respect to the longitudinal axis of the foot.
Under the circumstances, it is obvious that the known boots compel the leg of the user to assume, in said transverse vertical plane, a position forming, with respect to the horizontal plane, an angle equal for all the users, that is the angle provided by the manufacturer.
On the contrary, it is known that the natural angle of lateral inclination of the human leg varies from individual to individual. Consequently, when said angle does not coincide with the angle provided by the manufacturer of the boot, the foot settles in an anomalous position causing, when the leg is in the vertical position, a misalignment between the plane of the sole of the boot and the horizontal plane.
In order to obviate this disadvantage and to re-create a correct alignment, several kinds of lateral adjustment means are known. For example, a shim having a laterally inclined plane along the whole length of the sole can be set under the sole itself or the thickness of the sole can be uniformly reduced towards one of the lateral sides of same.
Further known means for obtaining the variation of said lateral inclination consist, for example, in using insoles inside the boot, which are appropriately shaped with rises or reductions in order to correct the transverse position of the leg. Adjustment mechanisms are also known, employing screws or pre-established positions by means of teeth or the like, which are placed outside the bootleg on its external part, in proximity to the pin joint provided for the forward adjustment of the inclination during use, allowing to raise or lower the corresponding part of the bootleg from the outside.
However, all these kinds of adjustment means present considerable disadvantages. More particularly, the insertion of a laterally inclined shim under the sole, although re-creating a correct alignment between the plane of the sole and the horizontal plane, leaves unchanged the position of the foot and of the leg with respect to the pre-established position of the boot, which is a non natural position for the user.
The use of screw or pre-established position adjustment mechanisms presents the disadvantage of twisting the bootleg, so settling the closing edges and consequently the clamping levers in unaligned position.